A very happy Friday and merry Eurovision weekend to those who celebrate - or Sick New World weekend, if you were lucky enough to get tickets!
With Australia's Voyager's synthed-up prog metal and German industrial-meets-goth-metal-via-glam Lord Of The Lost bringing the heavy to Eurovision 2023, it feels like metal is truly booting its way back into the mainstream consciousness - and not a moment too soon, we say.
But we digress - as ever, we’ve searched high and low to find the very best new music for your consumption needs this week. First up - the results of last week’s vote! Mongolian folk metal heroes The Hu proved once again to be unstoppable as they took top spot, while prog/death masters Scar Symmetry came in a very admirable second, Aussies Voyager earning a podium finish with Prince Of Fire.
But who’ll take top spot this week? With new singles from the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust and Devildriver, there’s a wide selection to choose from, including a surprisingly large selection of new nu metal bangers (someone’s certainly getting in the spirit for Sick New World). As ever, we want you to tell us which new metal songs excite you most, so don’t forget to cast your vote below!
Avenged Sevenfold - We Love You
Avenged Sevenfold continue to defy all expectations on their latest single, We Love You, a Mr Bungle-inspired genre-clashing cosmic ride that incorporates everything from techno to prog metal and thrash. Frequently changing its gears, it’s a whiplashing yet totally enthralling experience. Frontman M Shadows whispers ‘More sex/More pills/More skin’ to a bass-thumping beat, before a thrash riff tears everything to pieces, and electronic beeps whizz and flutter to create a disorientating dream-like hellscape.
Devildriver - This Relationship, Broken
Dez Fafara’s not-so-merry mob have been roaring along for over 20 years now, but are clearly still bringing the goods when it comes to new album Dealing With Demons Vol. II. Roaring along with as much apoplexy as they had in decades prior, This Relationship, Broken feels less like Dez is dealing with his demons so much as beating the ever-loving shit out of them. Still, isn’t that what this kind of music is for in the first place?
Sevendust - Everything
For all the criticisms you might want to throw at nu metal, there’s no denying its bands knew their way around massive tunes. By this point, ‘emotional yet punchy anthem’ is basically Sevendust’s bread and butter, but that doesn’t make new single Everything any less powerful. It's an explosive sing-along that simultaneously reminds us that 1) chugging riffs are great for headbanging and 2) Lajon Witherspoon has one of metal’s finest voices.
Conquer Divide - welcome2paradise
When it comes to the saying “biding your time”, Conquer Divide might just take the crown. New single welcome2paradise comes over six months since the explosive Paralyzed. Thankfully, it’s worth the wait; welcome2paradise delivering another utterly enthralling blast of hard-hitting metal interspersed with sublime melodies. Now the eight year wait for a new album looks to be (almost) over, Slow Burn arriving on September 8. Judging by the singles we’ve heard thus far, we should all be very, very excited.
Caskets - More Than Misery (ft. Telle Smith)
With just a few weeks to go until they appear at this year’s Download Festival, UK metalcore mob Caskets have unveiled a massive anthem-in-the-making with More Than Misery. The lead single from new album Reflections, due August 11, More Than Misery takes the band’s brand of melodic, electronica-underpinned metalcore and teams it with explosive riffs and a guest vocal from The Word Alive’s Telle Smith, Caskets setting themselves up for some massive sing-alongs this summer.
Blind Channel - Happy Doomsday
The ghost of both Eurovision and nu metal past, Finland’s Blind Channel are bursting forth with fresh zeal on Happy Doomsday. There’s an almost pop-punk sensibility to Happy Doomsday’s colossal chorus, the track’s hyperactive energy and irresistible hooks bringing to mind the likes of Beartooth or A Day To Remember at their very best. It’s a solid offering, and one that has us wondering how long it’ll be before we get a follow-up to last summer’s Lifestyles Of The Sick & Dangerous.
Sicksense - Feed Them To The Wolves
With Canadian melodeath mob The Agonist announcing their split after almost 20 years this week, fans of powerhouse vocalist Vicky Psarakis can at least take solace in the fact she isn’t going anywhere as her other group Sicksense deliver an explosive, electrified blast of nu metal revivalism. Feed Them To The Wolves isn’t mindless nostalgia; the track’s mixture of propulsive rap, prog-like melodies and fist-to-the-face mosh calls taps into the magic of the new-nu spirit of nu metal.
Urne - Becoming The Ocean
With their 2021 debut Serpent & Spirit, Urne cemented themselves as one of metal’s most exciting new prospects, earning fans in bands ranging from Trivium to Gojira. So naturally, with their upcoming follow-up A Feast On Sorrow, the band tapped Gojira's Joe Duplantier to produce. Judging from Becoming The Ocean, Duplantier has brought out the most extreme, incendiary edge of the band’s sound, dispensing the trad metal trappings of their debut to fall headlong into extreme metal territories, albeit with stadium sized riffs and instrumental melodies.
Pupil Slicer - Glaring Dark Of Night / Momentary Actuality
With Blossom, Pupil Slicer showed there was much more to their sound than sensory-overloading mathcore, but new single Glaring Dark Of Night / Momentary Actuality brings some of the original sonic bedlam back into the fold. Granted, there are still moments of serene melody, but the track’s employment of almost black metal style blistering blasts remind us that the visceral nastiness of Pupil Slicer goes deeper than just a stomach-turning name.
Lake Malice - Bloodbath
Most recently seen on tour in the UK with Bloodywood, UK alt-metal troupe Lake Malice are again pushing boundaries on new single Bloodbath. Elements of EDM meet metalcore with infectious pop choruses that brings to mind a hybrid mix of Spiritbox and Babymetal. With a promising summer calendar that includes dates at Download, 2000 Trees and Burn It Down festivals, it’s fair to say this summer might crystalise the point Lake Malice truly cross over into the metal mainstream.
